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Congratulations to Teignmouth Sings on their 10th Anniversary concert, attended by their founder David Roberts, who travelled specially from Wales. We were treated to a vibrant and varied concert….. it was so good to hear more modern songs alongside old favourites. The quality of singing and the obvious excitement of the choir shone through. ‘Whistle down the Wind’ was especially poignant, starting with a few original members, with the rest of the choir then joining in, showing how far they have come. This was a really uplifting evening, thank you! (Written by member of the audience who watched the performance. High praise indeed!)

“The best concert you’ve ever done!” was a comment repeated by a number of those in the audience.“I was spellbound” was another. Well deserved praise for the seventy members of Teignmouth Sings on stage, MD Jeff Hocking and accompanists Lydia and Roger, for this special celebration.

What a resounding success the evening was for Teignmouth Sings, at their 10th Anniversary Concert. The repertoire was chosen to reflect the breadth of music sung from when the choir was founded in 2009, to new pieces, learnt particularly for this performance.

From the opening medley, ‘Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat’, to the closing favourite, ‘Les Miserables’, the audience showed their appreciation with energetic applause. It was obvious that everyone performing and watching were enjoying themselves.

Highlights along the way included moving performances of ‘You Raise Me Up’, from the Soprano section and ‘I Don’t Know How to Love Him’, from the Altos. The Tenors and Basses had great fun singing ‘Drive My Car’, and their enjoyment was infectious. This was also true of Colin’s ‘The Lady is a Tramp’.

The second set opened with the impressive choral piece ‘Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi’, sung to a high standard, in six part harmony. ‘Whistle Down the Wind’ was one of the original pieces learnt. Those who have been members of Teignmouth Sings since 2009 opened the song as a small group, along with founder David Roberts. The whole choir then joined in to finish the piece. This clearly showed the growth and development of the choir. Outstanding!

This certainly was a celebration for Teignmouth Sings, with funds of over £1000 raised for MIND. Well done and thank you to all involved and those who came to enjoy the performance.

Our first Christmas Family Concert, held at St Michael’s Church on 1st December, was well received by all. The informality of the performance, along with choosing to hold it during the afternoon, proved popular. The audience, of more than 250, raised in excess of £1500 for Rowcroft Hospice, and a further £150 for St Michael’s Window Restoration Fund. What a fantastic achievement!

The choir had learnt a number of new pieces for this performance, and sang those with enthusiasm. These were interspersed with favourites from previous years. In addition, for the first time, songs particularly chosen for audience participation, encouraged children to play percussion instruments.

The afternoon began with a rousing ‘Celebration Canon’ by Mozart. The audience appreciated new additions of popular songs, including ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘A Million Dreams’. Both of these were chosen to appeal to all ages, and they certainly did.

The repertoire allowed smaller groups to sing during the concert. The Sopranos sections performed John Rutter’s beautiful ‘Angels Carol’ with grace and feeling. A further emotive piece, ‘The Coventry Carol’ was sung by small group of Alto and soprano members, in part a cappella. Colin, from our Tenor section, by way of contrast, performed a light hearted and enjoyable ‘It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas’.

‘Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth’ and ‘Gaelic Blessing’ were two further pieces learnt for this performance. Both of these have wonderful harmonies. They contrasted the upbeat Gospel song, ‘Halle, Halle, Halle’, the opening song of the second set, accompanied by choir member, Helen setting the beat on the drum.

Audience comments ere very favourable: “Wow! Maybe the start of a new tradition of having a regular family concert at Christmas…”; ” You’ve come alive-we found it an exciting and wonderful event.”; “We were due to leave at the interval to go to a party, but were enjoying it so much that we stayed for the end.”; “Best concert to date!”; “We really enjoyed the rather less formal and more relaxed atmosphere.”

A huge thank you to Lydia, our leader for this term and concert, to our accompanists, Roger and Helen, and everyone involved in helping in anyway. Great teamwork by all of us!

Teignmouth Sings once again provided a wonderful evening of song at the Riviera. A mix of new songs and those from the past repertoire, all performed to a high standard, were enjoyed by all. Throughout the evening, there was rapturous applause from the audience.

The first set began and ended with confident renditions of medleys from the musicals: ‘Oliver’ and ‘Mamma Mia’. Songs from varied genres including ‘One Love’, ‘Moon River’ and ‘Unchained Melody’ (sung in three part harmony by the Alto section) added to the occasion.

After the interval, a rousing medley of Irving Berlin songs (‘America’), was well received, as were the two following, from West Side Story. The set continued, and Tenor, Colin, sang ‘September in the Rain’, accompanied by Musical Director, Jeff Hocking. The evening concluded with a medley of Andrew Lloyd Webber songs, to the delight of the audience.

Comments made by a number of those who came to the performance included, “First time to hear you, but not the last!”, “All enjoyable and varied. Very impressive presentation.” and “Skyfall was amazing!”

Thank you to all involved, including accompanist Lydia, who added some further variety by playing the bongo!

The funds raised were in aid of the MNDA, which amounted to the grand sum of £1100!

Martin Young (Chair of Teignmouth Sings) presenting the cheque to the family of Katy Jones, a former choir member, who died from motor neurone disease in September 2017.

In an afternoon of song, as part of the Carnival Week, Teignmouth Sings took to the stage, to entertain a full marquee. Around fifty singers, confidently accompanied and conducted by Lydia, sang a selection of songs from the choir’s growing repertoire. Some of the selection was sung a cappella; ‘Something Inside so Strong’ proved very popular with the audience, and ‘Sway’ was sung to the beat of a bongo drum.

Other pieces included a medley from ‘The King and I’, ‘Windmills of your Mind’ and ‘Something Stupid’, all of which were enjoyed by the audience.

This was Teignmouth Sings’ last performance before the summer break, and was a suitable finale to the year. Well done to all involved.

Teignmouth Sings’ second performance of the year, at the Riviera, was enjoyed by an audience of over 150 people. The evening provided an entertaining mix of classic pop songs and medleys. These included recent additions to the repertoire, and others sung previously, reworked to include further harmonies.

Before the interval, the audience was treated to songs from ‘West Side Story’, ‘The King and I’, and an uplifting medley from ‘Mamma Mia’. The Soprano section performed a pleasing three part harmony arrangement of ‘Annie’s Song’.

The second set included ‘Hallelujah’, featuring the Tenor and Bass sections of the choir. ‘Dream a Little Dream’, another arrangement of three parts, was ably sung by the Altos, and received well by the audience. Soloist Colin, from the Tenors, sang a confident ‘Let’s Face the Music and Dance’.

Thanks go to a number of choir members and other volunteers who provided help leading up to, and on the evening of the performance. Many thanks also to those involved in the performance, including Musical Director, Jeff Hocking and Accompanist, Lydia Dockray.

The evening raised in the region of £1250. This will be shared between the Armed Forces charity, SSAFA, and the Mars Hill Church, whose members are renovating the Riviera, in order to provide a community hub.

What a great privilege to be able to perform at this wonderful venue, and for Teignmouth Sings to be the first live performers at The Riviera for seventeen years!

The choir was well represented, with sixty two members singing on this occasion. The programme was varied and showed how Teignmouth Sings has grown both in confidence and musicality. From the opening ‘Andrew Lloyd Webber’ medley through to the ‘Les Miserables’ finale, the audience was suitably entertained and impressed.

New pieces for this performance included some whole choir jazz arrangements: ‘And all that Jazz’, ‘It Don’t mean a Thing’ and ‘Moon River’, all sung with feeling and swing. The choir had learnt a new medley, from the musical ‘Oliver’, to open the second set, and this went down well with the audience.

During the first set, the Alto section performed a beautiful three-part harmony rendition of ‘The Rose’. In contrast, the Basses and Tenors ‘hijacked’ the stage and the MD, Jeff Hocking, in the second set. They sang a light hearted ‘There is Nothing like a Dame’ which included some very low solo lines!

A small group, from all sections of the choir, sang a challenging and harmonic Manhattan Transfer version of ‘A Nightingale sang in Berkeley Square’. This was sung mainly a cappella, with support from Jeff Hocking and accompanist Lydia Dockray. One of our Tenors, Colin, accompanied by Jeff, entertained the audience with the well known swing number, ‘It had to be You’.

Funds from ticket and programme sales, in the region of £1500, will benefit charity groups Operation Imprezza, Children & Families in Grief and the Mars Hill Church. Representatives from these organisations are shown receiving their cheques below:

A huge ‘WELL DONE!’ to everyone involved in this uplifting performance.

This year, we were pleased to have been asked to lead the carol singing at the Teignmouth Christmas Lights Switch On. This took place on Saturday 26th November.

On the evening of Thursday 15th December, from we sang a number of Christmas songs and carols in the Teignmouth Waitrose store. There was a ‘bucket collection’ in aid of Children’s Hospice South West, and we raised £158. Thank you to everyone who supported us and came along to enjoy the festive singing.

Teignmouth Sings sang at Teignmouth URC’s Candlelight Service on the evening of Sunday 18th December. Nearly sixty members of choir were present to lead the singing of carols. The choir sang five pieces, including a beautiful arrangement of ‘O Holy Night’.

Well done to all those in Teignmouth Sings for another crowd pleasing performance! Highlights from the choir’s recent evening concert were performed in the marquee on the Den, the last of the season before the summer break, as part of an afternoon of song from local choirs. All pieces were well received by the audience, many of whom who sang along to the numbers.

A wonderful occasion was enjoyed again, at Our Lady and St Patrick’s Church, Teignmouth, on the evening of Friday 1st July. Not only was well over £1000 raised for CAFOD, but Teignmouth Sings entertained another ‘sell-out-plus’ audience, just short of 200. A further lucky seven tickets were sold on the door.

The audience was impressed by the range of music sung, with a number of them passing on their compliments to choir members during the interval and after the performance. Some new additions to the repertoire included ‘Sway’, when the choir was accompanied by Lydia playing the bongo drum, rather than the usual piano! Other new items included ‘Windmills of your Mind’, and some of Irving Berlin’s famous show pieces, in a medley entitled ‘America’. This began with the punchy ‘There’s no Business like Show Business’ and ended with a rousing ‘God Bless America’. The Alto section, in three part harmony, beautifully performed ‘The Rose’, made famous by Bette Midler. Tenor Colin very proficiently sang ‘When Autumn Leaves start to Fall’.

The performance fell on the centenary of the start of The Battle of the Somme, and began with a respectful silence of two minutes. A fitting ‘Jerusalem’ and ‘Rule Britannia’ brought the evening to a close, and as at the more famous Prom, allowed for audience participation.

A huge thank you to all those in Teignmouth Sings for a marvellous evening of song!